Gears of War 2 Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

In Warzone your only goal is to eliminate the every member of the opposing team in a given time. You score one point for each win, until the pre-determined number of points is met. While all sorts of team strategies may be implemented to great effect in Warzone, it most often breaks down to a race to the most desirable weapons, thus, knowing your maps is an important part of getting good at Warzone.

You are immediately presented with a choice in Warzone: do you go for the goodies, or stake out the big weapon spots for a kill? Most likely, there are people doing both at the beginning of every match. It's just as effective to get comfortable with your starting weapons instead of going for the big guns, and some of the best players scoff at the mere idea of using anything other than the Gnasher (shotgun). Also, when you are playing with strangers, you don't want to be competing with your own teammates for the powerful weapons, as that just distracts you from the real task at hand: killin'.

For beginners, basic techniques like leaving Frag Grenades as booby traps in highly trafficked areas (like grenade spawn points) can land your team easy kills. Sometimes these matches end up with one member of one team running for his or her life until the clock winds down and it will take some coordination to end the round in a timely manner. If you are in the last man standing, and you don't feel comfortable directly confronting the other team, try to lead them into a booby trap and even the odds. If you die, you're out for good until the next round, so that's all the more reason to stick near your team for quick revivals.

Submission (a.k.a. "Capture the Stranded")

Submission plays out a lot like Capture the Flag, but there's only one, neutral flag, and it can shoot you in the face. The "flag" is a Stranded dude named Franklin, recognizable by his scrappy appearance (in comparison to the hulking C.O.G. and Locust behemoths) and is indeed armed with a Gnasher. A point is scored by dragging him to a ring of light that appears at a weapon spawn location somewhere in the level after he's captured. Luckily, there's no way to kill Franklin, so you don't have to be delicate. After a bit of damage he'll fall to his knees and you can press A, when prompted, to grab him. A picture of the Franklin's face and a compass showing his direction will appear on you HUD in Submission.

There will most likely be a battle surrounding Franklin, not to mention the fact that he'll be fighting for his life - he won't hesitate to deal out executions either. As soon as Franklin is captured, he conveniently becomes a Meat Shield. When you have Franklin in tow, use him! That usually means walking backwards, and getting your team to cover you at all costs. If your teammate has nabbed the Stranded, don't get distracted, just cover his exposed butt. If the opposing team gets him, try to shoot around the Meat Shield and down the enemy.

Since everyone will respawn infinitely until the point is won (or the clock runs out), it's a good idea to leave downed enemies to bleed out if there's no one nearby to revive them. This will give you a bit more time with fewer threats.

It's not a bad idea to grab a Gorgon Pistol or Boltok Pistol before going for Franklin, as you'll be able to pull your own weight (and his) better with a good, one-handed gun. If Franklin is dropped, he will recover and start shooting right away, so watch out! Once a team drags him all the way back to the highlighted ring, a point is won. The match ends after the pre-determined number of points is reached by one team.

Wingman (a.k.a. "2 on 2 on 2 on 2 on 2")

In Wingman, forget about color, race or teamwork; the only person on your side is your Wingman. He or she is the only person that can revive you too, and once your down you won't be respawning until the match is over. Here, unlike in Warzone, kills count. You have a time limit too, so get killin'! You can only die via an Execution: Chainsaw melees, Execution moves (curb stomps, etc.), headshots from the Longshot and Boltok Pistol, and detonation (Frags, Torque Bow, Mortar etc.). Otherwise, you can be revived by your Wingman indefinitely.

Camping is always a good strategy on Wingman, and if you can find a spot with a good weapon (Mortar, Frag Grenades, Torque Bow etc.) out of the way from the fray then you can pick other teams off one at a time. Booby trap some entrances with grenades and cover your Wingman, reviving each other when in trouble, and with any luck you'll come out ahead.

Execution (a.k.a. "Team Deathmatch with Executions")

In Execution more than any other mode you should stay near you team since they can revive you if you fall. Otherwise, this play out like Warzone but with an emphasis on melee combat and powerful weapons.

In Guardian mode each team has a "Leader" who is the magical source of infinite respawning for your team. If you are the Leader, the game will say so and you'll have a star next to your ammo meter. You also have a directional compass pointing to where the opposite team's leader is, and you can always check where your leader is with the Left Bumper. In order to win a match you'll have to take down the other team's leader in order to get them to stop all that pesky respawning. After that, you'll still need to clear the rest of the team out.

A lot of responsibility, then, falls on the Leader, whose priority should be survival – and they most likely can't accomplish this on their own. So Leaders: don't go running for the Boomshot. Holing up with some grenade boobytraps is not a bad idea if your team isn't in to defending you. This mode can take coordination to keep the leader protected in addition to hunting down the other team, and you may have to delegate duties.

Annex (a.k.a. "King of the Hills")

In Annex, rings of gray appear in the level that can be capture by either team. While a ring is captured, it gives a point per second to the team that captured it. You don't need to stay in the rings after you capture them, but you do need to stay in them long enough to capture them. The more people in the ring, the faster it will be captured. A symbol of your team (C.O.G. or Horde) will appear in the gray circle on your HUD and it will fill with your team's color when it's being captured. If you step into a ring that's been captured by the opposing team, they'll have to be out of its boundaries before you start "draining" their color, and replacing it with yours. Once the 60 points are drained from a ring, it will disappear and reappear, unclaimed, at another location. The round ends when the pre-determined number of points is attained by one team.

These rings always appear on spawn locations of weapons, and the HUD display will reflect which weapon spot the ring is at (the weapon image in the circle on your HUD). This little circle on the HUD actually gives you a lot more information than that: the direction the Annex ring is from your location (the arrow); who is currently winning points (the color); and how many points are left to win (the number). Know a given map's weapon locations (see our Maps section) and you'll be able to quickly move to the new spot when it appears.

Once you capture a ring you can leave and take up a good position to defend it - it's a good idea to leave a grenade behind as a booby trap, just in case. Also, it's a good idea to mine known ring spots (weapon spawn locations) if you have a spare Frag Grenade, since the location will likely switch to that spot and you may as well get the jump on the opposing team. You can capture rings when you are bleeding out, so some quick crawling can make all the difference!

Once your team captures a ring, you can take up a snipe point while your points accrue, or hide on a corner with a shotgun -- anything to keep the enemy at bay. The ring can go back and forth several times until its points are drained. If there are just a few points left in a ring, it's probably not worth fighting for anymore and you may better spend your time hustling towards a possible location or picking up grenades / weapons. When the chime starts, that means the last several points are being accrued before a victory. Everyone will respawn indefinitely in this mode.

King of the Hill

Classic King of the Hill rules apply here: there's a ring that's the "hill" in one place - a weapon location as indicated by the compass on your HUD. You'd do well to learn these locations for maps so you can get to them as fast as possible. At least one member of your team must remain in the Hill once it's captured or you lose it. While in possession of the hill, your team will win a point per second.

The person in the hill can be bleeding out - it doesn't matter. You can even capture a hill whilst bleeding out. You may want to leave the hill to take a defensive point, but you should coordinate that with your team. If you all step out you'll have to recapture the hill - or some OTHER team might...

If you down enemies near your hill, consider not killing them unless they will be revived or enter your ring. This is because they will just respawn and come anew, so you might as well rack up some points in peace while they bleed out. Conversely, if you are bleeding out near a ring, head for it, you never know what may happen - you could be the one to retake the ring. Basic strategy applies to defending the ring, remain in cover, conserve ammo, and stick close to your team so they can revive you. The first team to the set number of points wins -- a chime will sound for the last few points. Also, the more people in a ring, the faster it will be drained of enemy color/filled by yours. So don't go it alone.

Horde

In Horde mode, you'll be confronted by all manner of sub-boss Locust. Each wave is harder than the last due to increasing numbers and added types of enemies. Although there are 50 waves total, there are actually only 10 waves of enemies that repeat 5 times. Each set of 10 waves progressively heaps bonuses on the enemies though, improving their Accuracy, Health and Damage, and making them that much more formidable. The first few levels will feature Wretches, Drones and Grenadiers, in addition to various Boomers, like Butchers (which melee attack). Added in for the mid-levels are Flame Grenadiers, classic Boomers, Kantus (with Ink grenades and explosive Tickers that count as kills), Sires (the difficult to kill zombies) and Theron Guards (with Torque Bows). The final wave adds in Bloodmounts (the Grenadiers riding monsters).

The best strategy for Horde is to get as many people together as possible to fight - going it alone just isn't a viable option. Take advantage of this unique co-op mode by taking on the horde with a group of people and you'll find it more satisfying - and less brutally difficult. Horde is all about letting the enemies come to you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have a sniper. Luckily, wherever you hole up, ammo for the Longshot and Torque Bow will have a tendency of finding its way to you, due to the bum rushing Locust. But items like Frag Grenades, the Hammer of Dawn or the Mortar that can really help take down the swarm are harder to come by.

Thus, holing up near a heavy weapons spawn point is a great idea. If one person stays on the Mortar, one snipes with a Longshot or Boltok, and the others defend the immediate environs with Gnasher or Lancers, you have a pretty good chance of survival. And sticking together makes revivals easier - once you're down you'll have to wait until the round's over to rejoin the fight. Of course, with the hectic nature of Horde, any strategy can devolve quickly. You'll want to keep an eye on the bar at the top left, which tracks your remaining kills. When you have less than 5 left, it will be revealed in numerals. The largest horde has about 25 enemies, while the smallest has about 10. Good luck!